Direct Mail Ain’t Dead, Says Facebook

I’m a bit behind on my snail mail, so to procrastinate from writing anything useful on the book, I went through a pile that’s accumulated over the past week. Perhaps the most interesting piece of mail came from a very familiar brand: Facebook.

The letter had all the trappings of direct mail – a presorted postage mark, impersonal address label, etc. I almost tossed it, but then I thought, why is Facebook using snail mail to message to me? I guess Facebook can’t grow using only its own platform to market its wares. After all, Google is now a major brand advertiser, and probably does direct mail as well. It’s kind of interesting that Facebook is now marketing in new ways….so open it I did.

The one page letter was an offer designed for folks who run “agencies.” I don’t run one, but I do manage a business, registered in the State of California, through which I manage my writing and speaking work. Facebook clearly bought some list, somewhere, that had my name on it (oh, the irony – don’t they already have this information?). The offer was for Facebook’s advertising products – I could offer a free $100 credit to all my clients if I signed up for Facebook advertising myself. I’d have to qualify as an agency, and I’m pretty sure I don’t. So despite my desire to offer all of you, my reading “clients,” $100 in free Facebook ads, I’m afraid I can’t. But I can post (a bad photo of) the letter, in case you’re interested. The front is the offer, and the back is a case study of a company (Victory Motorcycles) that’s had success with Facebook’s platform. For the record, if nothing else.

11 thoughts on “Direct Mail Ain’t Dead, Says Facebook”

Been saying that you have to have multi-channel campaigns for many years now. Most digital peeps think I’m nuts until they begin to grasp the concept of conversion rates. I’ve learned that Direct Mail delivers.

Interesting. I get a fair bit of advertising-related DM from Google, but haven’t seen anything from FB. I agree with Jim Reynolds; I think DM is potentially a great value these days because there’s so much less clutter.

I’m curious if they have some deeper insights into this study of direct mail marketing; is there a higher success rate? I know my email box and accounts are overloaded and cluttered with product/service opportunities. Perhaps, the process is beginning to reverse engineer itself; actually holding something tangible in your hands may stand out!

Thanks John- what’s really fun about this is that Facebook clearly bought a form used by Visa/MC, Farmers, and a few other insurance companies. Interesting… and rather cheap of them, if I must say, but clearly that particular form is the one that works.
Facebook has the monolithic goal of making regular websites and other small internet business platforms obsolete. Reaching out to folks who are focusing are their businesses vs. socializing on the web is a smart move for Facebook.

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